He was an Albanian officer in the Ottoman army who was sent to Egypt to expel the French. He did not speak Arabic; in fact, he was illiterate until the age of 45. He possessed remarkable cunning and limitless ambition. He eliminated his rivals and compelled the Ottoman Sultan to appoint him governor of Egypt. He came close to bringing down the Ottoman Empire. He was Muhammad Ali Pasha.
When Muhammad Ali arrived in Egypt in 1801, he found the country in a state of chaos and conflict among three competing powers - the Ottomans, the Mamluks, and the scholars of Al-Azhar, who represented the people. He skillfully maneuvered among all sides. He initially allied himself with the Mamluks against the Ottoman governor, then turned against them when they imposed heavy taxes on the population. He later sided with the people and the scholars, presenting himself as their advocate.
In 1805, the scholars of Al-Azhar convened and decided to remove the Ottoman governor and appoint Muhammad Ali in his place. It was one of the rare moments when the people asserted their will. However, the Mamluks remained a threat to Muhammad Ali. To eliminate them, he orchestrated one of the most infamous and bloody events in Egyptian history - the Citadel Massacre of 1811. He invited around 500 Mamluk emirs to a celebration at the Citadel. Once they arrived, he ordered the gates to be closed, and gunfire erupted from the walls.
Through this massacre, Muhammad Ali eliminated the Mamluks and removed his final major rivals. So how did this man transform Egypt from an Ottoman province into a major power? After consolidating his rule, Muhammad Ali launched his ambitious project of confiscating land and converting it into state property. He monopolized trade and agriculture, built a modern army based on the European model, established a navy, and sent educational missions to Europe.
Muhammad Ali’s goal was to create a strong state independent of Ottoman control. With his newly built army, he expanded beyond Egypt and conquered Sudan. He initially assisted the Ottomans in Greece, but later sent his son Ibrahim Pasha to fight them and conquer the Levant. His forces advanced to the outskirts of the Ottoman capital, bringing the empire close to collapse. But the European powers, led by Britain, intervened to stop his advance and forced him to retreat. He was left to rule Egypt and Sudan while securing the succession of power within his family. From an illiterate officer to the founder of modern Egypt, Muhammad Ali proved how ambition and political skill could create power. However, the rivalry among major powers could also bring any expansionist project to a halt.
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The imposter who deceived the people of the city It is said that an imposter once came to a city, and people gathered around him to buy his unusual goods. With each passing day, his goods became more popular.
One day, a wise and righteous man visited the city, and was astonished by the people’s eagerness to gather around the imposter. When he asked about the reason behind the large crowds, he was told that the man was selling plots of land in Paradise and issuing deeds for them. Whoever died while holding such a deed would enter Paradise and reside in the plot they had purchased.
The wise man was puzzled about how to convince the people that the man was a fraud and that those who had bought from him had fallen victim to his deception. Eventually, the wise man came up with a clever solution. He approached the imposter and asked him, “How much does a plot in Paradise cost?” The man replied, “One hundred dinars.” The wise man then asked, “If I wanted to buy a plot in Hell from you, would you sell it to me?”
The imposter was surprised and said, “Take it for free.” The wise man replied, “No, I want to buy it for a price that I will pay you, and you must provide me with a receipt.” The imposter said, “I will give you a quarter of Hell for one hundred dinars, which is the price of one plot in Paradise.” The wise man asked, “What if I want to buy all of it?” The imposter replied, “You must pay me four hundred dinars.” The wise man immediately paid him the four hundred dinars and asked him to issue a receipt, which was then witnessed by a large number of people.
He then shouted at the top of his voice, “O people! I have purchased all of Hell, and I will not allow any of you to enter it, for it now belongs to me according to this receipt. As for you, nothing remains for you except Paradise. You have no other place to go, whether you buy plots or not.” Upon hearing this, the people dispersed from around the imposter, reassured by the wise man’s receipt that they would not enter Hell. The imposter realized that he had been outwitted and that he was more foolish than those who believed him.
